For all the Baofang fans out there, here are a couple of alternatives.

The TH-UV3R is a small dual band 2.5 W HT - similar to, but actually different than the Baofeng UV-3R. Moleculo overt at WorldWideDX has posted his review and he is extremely happy with it. I've got a few posts about it as well here.

I was considering the UV-5R, but wanted to be able to charge via a port on the radio so I could use my PowerFilm charger. Now I think the TH-UVF9 is on the list. Thanks for the info. Looks like 409Shop has them for $75

Originally Posted By Gamma762:Also reading where they have a quad band mobile in development.

Unfortunately it's 10m/6m/VHF/UHF Would be more useful as 6m/VHF/220/UHF or even VHF/220/UHF/900

Yes, they have the quad band mobile coming. There is a lot of conflicting and confusing information out there. The quad band is the TH-9800, but they also sell some single band mobiles as a model TH-9800.

This looks very interesting if they would do the correct 220 range for amateur use. As in, I'll buy a couple of them interesting, if they're Part 90 approved.

I was really digging the old Moto cell phone display, but it appears the actual production units have a standard LCD.

I wonder how long before one of these companies does an "everything" HT, with low band/6m/4m, VHF, 220, UHF, and 900. Poor man's MBITR.

Interesting the one you listed shows triband, but the one listed on 409shop shows dualband.

I don't know if it's actually a triband radio or just confusion in translation. Chinese spec sheets are often very confusing. Different websites show the UVF9 as offering a dual band VHF/220 version, dual band 220/UHF, and this one shows triband. Most all show the white-on-black display yet actual radios appear to be a typical black-on-grey LCD.

I really wish they'd offer a few more "commercial" oriented models - a simple low cost radio with no display, and/or radios that are limited to a simple single alphanumeric channel tag in the display. Such setup in a low cost dual band HT would make some inroads into the commercial market.

ETA:
There seems to be a lot of "Kenwood" influence in some of the Chinese makers, I think it seems obvious that some of them are the OEMs for some Kenwood products (like when you use Kenwood programming software for the radios). And Kenwood does have a triband (2m/220/440) HT, so I don't think it's out of the question that there is a similar triband HT from one of the Chinese companies.

Originally Posted By Gamma762: Different websites show the UVF9 as offering a dual band VHF/220 version, dual band 220/UHF, and this one shows triband. Most all show the white-on-black display yet actual radios appear to be a typical black-on-grey LCD.

From the main TYT page on Radio-Mart, they link to a brochure that also shows the TH-UVF9 as a dual band radio.

Originally Posted By Gamma762:Also reading where they have a quad band mobile in development.

Unfortunately it's 10m/6m/VHF/UHF Would be more useful as 6m/VHF/220/UHF or even VHF/220/UHF/900

Yes, they have the quad band mobile coming. There is a lot of conflicting and confusing information out there. The quad band is the TH-9800, but they also sell some single band mobiles as a model TH-9800.

I've now asked if it will do full power on 220 and if this is a software or hardware mode. I've seen other software mods that expand the frequencies on the Baofeng UV-3R and the Baofeng UV-5R, but the mods only expand the receive or the power out is next to nothing.